Leeds Rhinos icon & ex-Castleford Tigers boss Danny McGuire fined for ref criticism after Wigan Warriors loss
Former Castleford Tigers coach Danny McGuire has been fined for criticising match officials following his then-side’s loss to Wigan Warriors last month.
Tigers were beaten 26-20 after leading with seven minutes to play. After the game, an upset McGuire slammed some of the decisions as “pathetic” and claimed the standard of officiating in Betftred Super League is “getting worse”. RFL match officials’ boss Phil Bentham later apologised to Tigers for a “video refereeing error”, but that hasn’t prevented McGuire being punished for breaching the sport’s operational rules.
The Leeds Rhinos Hall of Fame member, who was sacked by Tigers on July 7, has been fined £3,000, half of it suspended until the end of next season. He now has two weeks to request an operational rules tribunal, when he could challenge the verdict.
Another out of work coach, Steve McNamara, is in a similar situation. He has been fined £2,000, half of it suspended until after the 2026 campaign, for comments made as Catalans Dragons boss before and after their Betfred Challenge Cup semi-final defeat by Hull KR in April.
In addition, Warrington Wolves’ Sam Burgess has been informed by the RFL compliance department an investigation has been opened into his comments following Sunday’s defeat at Castleford. He has seven days in which to respond.
An RFL statement said: “This compliance action follows a note that was sent to all clubs in May expressing concern at the increasing number of public comments by head coaches relating to match officials and stressing that comments deemed to be public criticism of match officials breaching the relevant operational rules and the sport’s Respect code of conduct could lead to compliance action.”
In each case, the explanation for the sanction noted: “Head coaches have a responsibility to ensure their behaviour sets an example to all within the game and, as such, any such misconduct should be dealt with more severely. Given your high profile within the game, the level of reach the comments made in the media and within the press have a detrimental impact to the game.”